Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-07-07
THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF OHIO.
Br w.YARRASp FELoH.
rHE EIrEsr OF TIE oLAcrras.


The southern boundary line of the glacia
sheet is called its terminal moraine." )" where
were deposited blocks of stone and gravel
The glacial deposits began at the Red riyel
of the North, for this section, extending to
Cape Cod, from which place it can be traced
along the Atlantic Coast in a southwesterly
direction; through Pennsylvania in a north
westerly direction to southern New York Gin
Chautauqua county, where it was stopped
by the Allegheny mountains from going
farther south. From there it dipped to the
southwest again in Ohio; in the western part
of Holmes county it dipped southwark to
Fairfield county, from which point it extend
ed southwesterly to Cincinnati and into
Kentucky. From this point it turned
northerly, and followed the valley of the
Missouri river, which large river was largely
created by glacial overflow. North of this
line is the great wheat producing section of
the States. This imported SOIL" as it may
fairly be called, is often of great depth. At
Columbus, even, clay has been found at a
depth of 12O feet, which shows upmistakable
evidence of this. In digging wells many
striated or scratched stones are found at
great depths. The trees now growing in the
Carolinas and Virginias and even in Ohio,
are similar to those originally growing where
the glaciers started. ..@
This wall of ice was in some places over
1000 feet in height over this State; and farther
north it attained to 1000 above the sea level,
the accretions of several centuries of snow
fall and freezing.
Geologists like Prof. Wright, of 0berlin
College, and other experts on the subject,
claim that the Glacial Period broke up sud-
denly, the ice giving way before the warm
sun. Deductions made from the amount of
erosion at the Niagara and st. Anthony's
Falls, show that fully $4,000 years have
elapsed since the breaking up of the "Great
Ice Age" when the waters formed by the
melting by this immense ice-sheet flowed off
to the South and formed the present river
channels. These channels existed in nearly
the came positions and directions, however,
as far back as the Carboniferous Age, but
were radically changed and enlarged by the
mighty floods succeeding the Glacial
Periods. r--s,.. .- -.
MORE MODERN THEORY.
Recently, the opinion has been gaining
ground that the "Great Ice Age" is very
modern in geological sense, some of the
reasons advanced for this belief, are: l, the
degree of atmospheric decay in rocks since
the Glacial Epoch is scarcely perceptible; 2,
the recession of river falls, such as the Ma
CARA, is so slight as to be scarcely noticeable;
8, the slight erosion of river-yalleys, coast
ranges, and other prominent landmarks,
leads to a similar conclusion. Such facts
lead to the conclusion that the last ice period
closed only about 5000 years ago. This,
however, has not been demonstrated, and it
must be placed twice that far back, at the
very least. Prof. Winchell holds that accord
ing the amount Of erosion at Smelling, Min
nesota, the ice must have been withdrawn
from there at least 1000 to 1900 years ago;
at other points fully 1900 years ago.
According to astronomy, the earth is 5000,
900 miles nearer the sun in winter than in
summer, but 1900 years ago it was exactly
the reverse, and farther back the difference
was still greater; the astronomers claim that
the time of the Glacial Epoch can be ascer-
tanned in this manner, but these changes are
not of so much importance as terrestrical
evidence, Of which we have already adduced
the main facts. q & s-s E&
Perhaps these changes in the position of
the earth account fully for the existence of
the '''Great Ice Age,''or are among the main
causes. IT has been claimed by able scien-
fists that before the Glacial Age, lin the
Carboniferous Age, for instaAce,) there was
perpetual summer the year around, and no
change of seasons; they also claim that the
great weight ofthis ice sheet on the Northern
hemisphere caused the earth to incline from
the perpendicular to its present inclination,
hereby the seasons became what we have
them now; but this does not concern our
present purpose, although very plausible and
perhaps true. 4 t-F-E"
q CHAPTER I-PRIMEvAL MAN IN OHIO.
The last chapter is given wholly to a con-
sideration Of "The Great lee Age" inasmuch
as it is evident If we can determine when the
Glacial period ended we can also determine
when man first occupied Ohio. Bat this can
only be done approximately, as already indi-
Gated. Primitive man, driven out Of his
home in the North, came South, as the
Glacier proceeded southwark, and followed
mp the melting ice andthe swollen streams;
these aborigines have left their crude imple-
ments of warfare and the chase behind them,
and they are found in this ''drift' Cr It'll, :"
showing conclusively that tgman existed in a
savage state as far back as the Glacial Age
These implements are found in abundance in
Europe; some of those found in France are
exact counterparts of those found m New
Jersey. The stone supplements found in New
Jersey were deposited when the food was at
its heigt and were sixteen feet below the sur
face when discovered The natives who
used these stone weapons were akin to the
Esquimau race, as we shall presently show.
The missing link" if there ever was any
persisted before or during the Ice Age, and
since then, at all events, men have beer
met. If they were not men, why should the!
fashion and use weapons of defense ant
attack The period since the Ice Age EN-
braces all we know positively Of man as I
man and the whole of human history. 1t i
vain to ,theorize about pre-G Glacial man TO
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